"Linger,"I cried,"oh radiant Time!thy power Has nothing more to give;life is complete:Let but the perfect Present,hour by hour,Itself remember and itself repeat.
"And Love,--the future can but mar its splendour,Change can but dim the glory of its youth;Time has no star more faithful or more tender,To crown its constancy or light its truth."
But Time passed on in spite of prayer or pleading,Through storm and peril;but that life might gain A Peace through strife all other peace exceeding,Fresh joy from sorrow,and new hope from pain.
And since Love lived when all save Love was dying,And,passed through fire,grew stronger than before:-Dear,you know why,in double faith relying,I prize the Past much,but the Present more.
